


I Said I Would

by missbecky



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 20:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missbecky/pseuds/missbecky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony shows up late for the end of the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Said I Would

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry for this one.

_You said you would find me, even in death  
But I can't see New York  
As I'm circling down through white cloud,  
Falling out  
I know his lips are warm  
But I can't seem to find my way out  
Of this hunting ground_  
\-- "I Can't See New York", Tori Amos

 

Because there is no one to remind him, Tony shows up late for the end of the world.

There is no warning. He is on the Stark Industries plane when it happens, en route to a technical conference in Chicago. Pepper is with him. Together they watch as the news stations begin showing the first video from New York.

She is the only one who gets a proper good-bye.

He suits up and flies right out the back of the plane. The pilot has to bring it down low for this maneuver. As he races eastward, he spares one single glance over his shoulder; already the plane is rising to cruising altitude.

He hopes Pepper will be all right. Then he is gone.

****

JARVIS is with him at first, giving him the information he so desperately needs. The servers in the Tower that housed the AI's memory and personality were destroyed in the initial attack, but there are backup servers and anyway JARVIS is everywhere and nowhere at once. Physical location means nothing to him. But eventually his ability to monitor the situation grows more difficult, as one by one the lines of communication out of the city are cut. And at last he says he can be of no more help.

"Good luck, sir," JARVIS says, and then he does not speak again.

In his other ear, the updates from SHIELD are growing more infrequent, and more frantic. "Tony, what's your status?" 

"I'm an hour out," he says.

"Just get here as quickly as you can," Steve says. In the background, sirens are wailing and Thor is shouting something. 

"Go," he says. "Save the world. I'll find you."

****

By the time he arrives, only a bank of gray-white cloud shows where the city of New York once stood proud and tall. For the last fifteen minutes he has been receiving a signal on a band reserved for emergencies, but he's steadfastly resisted the temptation to answer it. It could be a trap. He won't know for sure until he goes in.

Helplessly he circles that cloud, dreading the moment when he must go beneath it. He never really loved New York, not for himself. He only stayed because he couldn't leave the one who did love it. 

At last, unable to put it off any longer, he slowly descends through the smoke and haze.

****

There isn't much left.

Right away the alien ships spot him. They open fire, and he gives them everything he's got, burning them down without regard to the damage he takes in return. The beacon's signal is still flashing in his eyeline and he draws the ships away, repulsors screaming in harmony with the keening of his voice.

The last ship explodes in a hailstorm of fire and metal. Something gives with a sick lurch in his chest, and he cries out wordlessly, tumbling from the sky, white light at his chest flaring brightly with warning. That's it for the arc reactor then, unless he wants to blow himself up, and while that's looking more and more like an option, he can't, not yet, not until he _knows_ what he already knows.

The emergency signal is nearly lost amid the myriad other alarms blinking rapidly at him. He flies slowly in that direction, weaving between mountains of rubble that were once tall buildings.

He finds the source of the signal on a burning street choked with debris. They made their last stand here. If he cared to, he could piece it together.

He absolutely does not want to do this.

Amid the gray dust and white smoke, the colors of the shield are brighter than any beacon could ever hope to be. He drops to his knees and crawls under a metal beam torn in two. The ground beneath is dappled in shadow and blood. A little way in, it opens up into a space big enough for a man to lie in hiding.

Steve actually smiles to see him. "You found me."

He tears the helmet off. He must bear witness to this with his own eyes. "I said I would."

"We tried," Steve says.

He lays his hand on the ruin of Steve's chest. "You did it." It's a lie, but that hardly matters now.

Steve tries to speak and chokes.

Tony acts without thinking, rips off the gauntlets and lifts him into a sitting position. Steve cries out softly, and he hates himself for that, for causing Steve more pain.

"It's okay," he says, feeling so useless, so helpless. He cradles Steve to his chest, cursing the unfeeling metal that won't let him bear this burden properly. The armor is just obscene now. "You'll be okay."

Steve looks up at him, and he sees it, the moment when Steve chooses to believe the lie.

"You did it," he says. "Just rest now."

Steve nods, ever so faintly.

"Late for everything," Tony says, trying to smile through the pain. It hurts to breathe. He leans down and presses a kiss to Steve's lips.

"No," Steve says. "Just in time." He smiles again. He closes his eyes. He breathes in once, twice, then does not anymore.

Tony holds him and stares out at the ruin of the world, unblinking, unseeing. 

Eventually everything dissolves into hazy smoke, the kind no amount of tears can ever wash away.

 

END


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